28 September 2006

A great day

I am out in sunny southern CA at Saddleback Church for some meetings with some great youth ministers from all over the country. Today we discussed our main purpose for being here PDYM and had the opportunity to be inspired by Greg Stier of Dare 2 Share. He presented an amazing structure for reaching students through evangelism. I am really looking forward to bring it home and getting started with some eTeams.

To top it all off we headed to Downtown Disney. We had a great dinner at the ESPN sports zone and you can't leave ESPN without hitting the video games upstairs.

What a great day. It is such a blessing to be able to be around like-minded youth workers and share life, share your heart, and share some fun experiences (drunk guys on a shuttle).

26 September 2006

Weakness

Last Friday evening the football team I coach with played the defending state champions at our homecoming game. Our humiliating loss has really pointed out our weaknesses as a team. It was probably one of the most difficult losses that I have experienced. I hate losing! In the weakness of losing there can be a lot learned.

Lately I feel that I have been in an uphill both ways, losing battle. My weaknesses seem to be exaggerated and pointed out more often. This is never fun. Weaknesses are humiliating. Rather that fight the weakness maybe the best thing that I can do is to embrace it.

2 Corinthians 12:9, But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

More than anything I want to experience Christ's power in my life. If His power comes through my acknowledgement of my weaknesses, then so be it.

19 September 2006

Arrr! Ahoy mateys! Today be the day of ye 'ol pirate. In honor of the day, a pirates tale...

Once upon a time, long ago, there lived a sailor named Captain Bravo. He was a manly man's man, who showed no fear when facing his enemies.

One day, while sailing the Seven Seas, his lookout spotted a pirate = ship, and the crew became frantic.

Captain Bravo bellowed, "Bring me my red shirt!" The first mate quickly retrieved the captain's red shirt, and while wearing the brightly colored frock, the Captain led his crew into battle and defeated the pirates.

That evening, all the men sat around on the deck recounting the day's triumph. One of them asked the Captain, "Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before battle?"

The captain replied, "If I am wounded in the attack, the shirt will not show my blood. Thus, you men will continue to fight, unafraid."

All of the men sat in and marveled at the courage of such a manly man's man.

As dawn came the next morning, the lookout spotted not one, not two, but TEN pirate ships approaching. The crew stared in worshipful silence at the captain and waited for his usual orders.

Captain Bravo gazed with steely eyes upon the vast armada arrayed against his ship, and without fear, turned and calmly shouted, "Get me my brown pants!"

17 September 2006

Putting the pieces back together

So this has been a week for the record books. I have had my heart sink as I realize that I have lost everything on my computer... Calendar dates, contacts, music, sermons, family pictures... Everything. Gone! I am now picking up the pieces of my humpty dumpty document and trying to put them back together again. Oh, and I also got to clean up the water in my basement. Somewhere around 60 gallons of water in my basement.

In all of this I was able to meet Rob, a highly skilled Genius at the Apple store. Rob helped save my files and me from loosing "it" at the store. I was amazed at how people are willing to drop some major cash for their kids at the apple store purchasing ipods. I was more than entertained watching people during all of my time at the genius counter. People really have NO patience. Most of all I am reminded that no matter what is going on, I can have peace in the middle of it.

11 September 2006

Holy Huggables

Huggable Jesus is just one of the "the dolls that love you back," offered by a couple of biblical doll-makers in Boston, who hawk plush dolls "that pack fun and faith into one lovable, kid-sized package."

There is also Huggable Moses, who cradles in his arms two pillows like tablets and recites all Ten Commandments at the push of a button on the front of his brown robe, which is tied up with twine.

If only we had the same passion for eternal things. Imagine the difference that would be made. Life is so short. This has really made me remember that it is not worth waiting around for something. We need to live passionately, especially for things with an eternal purpose.

03 September 2006

Church freeloaders look out.

Is there such a thing as church downsizing? Maybe some mega-churches are starting a new "trend" in church life... downsizing based on church involvement like tithing and serving. It will be interesting to see how this goes over.

WINSTON-SALEM — Julie and Bob Clark were stunned to receive a letter from their church in July asking them to "participate in the life of the church" — or worship elsewhere. "They basically called us freeloaders," says Julie. "We were freeloaders," says Bob. In a trend that may signal rough times for wallflower Christians, bellwether mega-church Faith Community of Winston-Salem has asked "non-participating members" to stop attending. "No more Mr. Nice Church," says the executive pastor, newly hired from Cingular Wireless. "Bigger is not always better. Providing free services indefinitely to complacent Christians is not our mission." "Freeloading" Christians were straining the church's nursery and facility resources and harming the church's ability to reach the lost, says the pastor. "When your bottom line is saving souls, you get impatient with people who interfere with that goal," he says.